Syracuse football to scrimmage on 'Separation Saturday'

Fort Drum, NY – If one was trying to put an ESPN-style label on the upcoming Syracuse University football scrimmage, it might be “Separation Saturday.”

That was the message from Orange head coach Doug Marrone today after a light practice in helmets, shorts and shoulder pads.

“We’ve got a big scrimmage coming up tomorrow – a really important scrimmage,” Marrone said after SU finished its fifth day of workouts at this Army post in the North Country.

Players, who have mixed football practices with some Army physical conditioning and leadership skills training all week long, will go at it in full pads Saturday in front of military personnel and their families.

Marrone said he hoped to get 80-100 plays in during the session from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on the grass surface at Sligh Field.

The coach said the first scrimmage of this preseason using game officials likely will create some separation in position battles.

“I’m just looking to see separation,” he said. “Some guys are starting to play well. There are other players on the field that we’re going to look at to see if they’re truly competing and are in the mix – what you’re looking for is separation.”

The scrimmage will include a gamut of work – including all of the special teams – and pit the first-team offense against the second-team defense, and the first-team defense against the second-team offense.

Marrone said there are no days off scheduled until late next week, so coaches might limit or keep some players out of the action.

“We’ll probably hold some kids, maybe some of the younger ones, out – because we have another scrimmage coming up on Wednesday,” he said. “We also have a double session on Monday.”

The team will practice again on Sunday morning here before boarding buses and heading back to campus.